State OKs money for Northborough school boiler project

The Massachusetts School Building Authority announced approval yesterday of nearly $309,100 for the Melican Middle School boiler replacement project.

Brad Petrishen/Daily News staff

The Massachusetts School Building Authority announced approval yesterday of nearly $309,100 for the Melican Middle School boiler replacement project.

In April, Town Meeting approved funding $780,000 for the project, which will replace two inefficient boilers that have been at the school since it was built 40 years ago.

The building authority determined that the project's final cost will be $657,236, which means the state will pay about 47 percent of the cost.

"We've been working with the state on this since February, and they've been very helpful," Superintendent Charles Gobron said.

He said he expected the state to approve the grant since the town followed the application process exactly as the building authority required.

"The town has been extremely cooperative," said Gobron, who expects the new boilers to be installed by mid-October.

The grant was issued as part of a $59.5 million Green Repair Program for towns looking to increase energy efficiency in their schools through new roofs, windows or boilers. Northborough is the only MetroWest town to receive the grant.

Gobron said replacing the boilers at half the cost is an excellent bargain, but the district's highest priority remains the renovation of Lincoln Street Elementary School.

While the town has filed statements of interest for that project with the building authority for several years, it has never received funding approval.

Gobron said the Lincoln Street school may be overlooked because it's not in bad physical condition. But he also said the schools's design isn't conducive to modern teaching techniques, and he hopes the state will help fund the improvements as it has already done for the Zeh and Proctor elementary schools.

(Brad Petrishen can be reached at 508-490-7463 or (bpetishen@wickedlocal.com.)

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